Thursday, September 22, 2016

Lucifer - Season 2, Episode 1: Everything's Coming Up Lucifer Review and *SPOILERS*

Same Old Song and Dance


Created By: Tom Kapinos
Directed By: Nathan Hope
Written By: Joe Henderson
Starring: Tom Ellis, Lauren German, D.B. Woodside, and more.
Air Date: September 19, 2016
Channel: FOX

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Lucifer has returned and I’m honestly not sure if that is a good thing or a bad one. I know many people did not enjoy watching the first season of Lucifer. That said, I found the show to be something of a mixed bag myself. Sure, they took a character and made a typical cop procedural drama out of it and that sucks but what they did with it has been somewhat nice. That said, the big thing last season was the fact that Lucifer was becoming mortal and could be killed. They managed to harp on this idea for most of the season and it got old really quickly. When Lucifer is powerless, he is no longer the epic and threatening being that we are all entertained to watch. Instead, he becomes the overcompensating douche that we have to put up with. That said, after last season when Lucifer was spared from death, I am hoping that storyline would be put in the past or at least put on hold. Does this new season bring new and exciting storylines and leave the old and stale ones behind? Let’s find out.


The episode begins with a bank robbery that is broken up by Lucifer and Amenadiel. Turns out that the bank robber was a man that was spared from death and they believe that their mother had possessed him in her escape from hell. That’s not the case and the two simply disarm and embarrass the robber before going on their way. Lucifer then meets with his therapist Linda Martin and we get the backstory of his mother. Turns out that she grew unbearable when God was creating humanity and when Lucifer was sent to hell, his mother did nothing to save him and in return he did nothing to save her when his father imprisoned her there. Lucifer then meets up with Detective Decker for the first time this season. They are investigating the murder of a young actress. When they get to the crime scene, they find her with two bent bars in her skull, representing devil horns. Lucifer immediately believes this to be the work of his mother, trying to get his attention.

This is where we first meet Ella. She a new member of the Lucifer cast and works as a CSI for the department. She wears a cross around her neck with obviously catches the attention of Lucifer. When they meet, she mistakes his persona as if he was simply a method actor. Of course, no one on the show really believes that Lucifer is the devil. Dan arrives on the scene despite the fact that he was arrested at the end of last season. Turns out that he was acquitted of the charges against him but in the process, he was demoted. Lucifer and Chloe talk to the victim’s landlord and learn that she was a mother figure in her life. While searching the apartment, they find a stack of cash and the landlord tells them about the drug problem that the lead actress was having. Perhaps the victim was blackmailing her because of it. Chloe is still a little confused about Lucifer due to the fact that she saw him lying in a pile of his own blood and yet he is completely fine. She has a sample of his blood and plans on testing it to find out what he really is. Lucifer tells Amenadiel about this and Amenadiel begins moving to try and stop Chloe.

Back in the case, Chloe gets a bit more information on the lead actress but Lucifer is a little ahead of her. He visits the lead actress in her trailer, and confronts her. He believes that she is possessed by his mother and confronts her about her façade. The lead actress, however, is not possessed and misinterprets Lucifer’s words to mean that he understands who she really is. She strips a bit and mounts Lucifer, much to his horror (again, he believes that his mother is in this girl’s body). This is when Chloe enters to see the scene in front of her. The scene ends and when we return from commercial things seem to be figured out. They find out that the victim was the lead actress’ sober companion.

Meanwhile, Amenadiel tries to use his power to stop time in order to reclaim Lucifer’s blood. However, when he tries his power suddenly fades and he is confronted. He makes some kind of remark about being lost and leaves. Lucifer meets with Linda once again and she questions whether he is truly getting better due to their sessions. He seems to have regressed and willing to blame everyone else for his misfortunes. Amenadiel tries something different to throw Chloe off of Lucifer’s trail by meeting with her. He tells her that Lucifer is simply delusional and that he has been that way for a while. He even sets up an elaborate plan in which he shoots himself in the chest to throw her off. He was wearing a bulletproof vest and some blood packets. He claims that Lucifer has done the same before. Amenadiel seems confident but later we find out that Chloe doesn’t believe him at all.

Lucifer and Chloe look into the drug dealer that was selling to the victim and find him at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. The drug dealer confesses that he sold to the victim but never would hurt her. She was paying him nicely, thus he had no motive. He admits that he seemingly “stole” the customer from another seller and that seller may be the one behind the attack. Later, Lucifer is attacked at his club but the attacker is quickly dealt with by Mazikeen or Maze. The attacker is the boyfriend of the lead actress that Lucifer met with earlier. He clearly saw what she and Lucifer were doing in the trailer and planned to attack Lucifer out of a jealous rage. Lucifer and Maze discuss his mother breaking out of hell. He even suspects Maze at first but she is able to calm his suspicions. The attacker tells Lucifer and Maze about the original drug deal who went by the name of Bobby B.

Lucifer meets with Chloe to do some work on the case which he clearly finds very meaningless until he quickly is able to discover the identity of Bobby B. Turns out that it was the landlord that they met earlier. Lucifer is clearly planning on taking matters into his own hands and doesn’t tell Chloe about it. Maze and Amenadiel meet up again and despite Amenadiel clearly wanting to continue, the two agree to not see each other for a while. Chloe speaks with Ella about religion before figuring out the answer to her case and she goes off to see the landlord. Lucifer confronts the landlord and she attacks him. He believes that he is invincible but the attack hurts him. He’s confused because he had only been vulnerable before when Chloe was around him. Turns out that Chloe had arrived at the house in just the nick of time and thus, made Lucifer vulnerable. Luckily for him, she is able to save him before the landlord kills him.

The episode ends but not before the case is wrapped up and Lucifer talks with some of the cast. He and Linda are able to bury the hatchet and work as patient and doctor once again. Lucifer and Chloe are also about to get back to normal. Chloe cares about Lucifer too much and doesn’t want to know the results of his blood test because it could change things. She still doesn’t believe Amenadiel but she ends up throwing away the blood sample belonging to Lucifer. The final scene of the episode ends with Lucifer in his apartment and the elevator door opens. Out walks his mother, bloodied and injured who falls into her son’s arms.

Honestly, I do enjoy this series but this episode was infuriating. Everything about the episode was about trying to get back to normal. After the events of the season one finale, things were shaken up and this episode undid most of it. Chloe and Lucifer are back to normal. Linda and Lucifer are back to normal. Everything with Maze is back to normal. It’s a waste of potential. There were several things about Lucifer’s mother and such that gave us a nice introduction into a storyline that is clearly going to be focused on and we met a new character in Ella who I am really enjoying so far but ultimately nothing about this episode was that great. There were some funny moments but even the ending felt kind of “meh”. We as an audience are still dealing with Lucifer being vulnerable and it’s very frustrating. We spent an entire season on it and it’s still going on. I understand that we don’t know everything about it yet, but a season premiere should bring in a new audience. No audience is going to see the ending of this episode and suddenly want to watch the rest of this series.

Bits and Pieces

The first season finale of Lucifer attempted to shake things up a little bit in the show and unfortunately, the second season premiere did everything it could to undo all that work. Everything about this episode is by the numbers and an overall disappointment. I know that this character has been brought into a cop procedural show but there are plenty cop procedurals that are better than this one. Lucifer is the one thing that makes this show different and they aren’t focusing on his powers at all in this episode. You really stumbled out the gate with this one.


4.0/10

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